Fast-paced, irreverent, and sometimes heart-wrenching, the Defense Command series by Kenneth Tam made its debut in 2006 at Toronto Trek –– then Canada’s largest fan-run science fiction convention. In 2016, this adventurous military science fiction series officially turns ten, and Iceberg Publishing will mark this milestone in a number of exciting ways. The anniversary celebration started […]
It’s been more than a year since we ended the Champions of 1942 on a rather unapologetic cliffhanger, and the only penance I can offer for that slight is that there’ll be no waiting between installments of the Champions of 1943. Today, all five novellas have launched across all major ebook services. Getting here has […]
There’s plenty to look forward to at the end of this month. On November 24th, all five Champions novellas for the of 1943 will be released at once, so readers waiting after last year’s cliffhanger in Progeny will finally be able to stop sending me angry messages. I’ll write more about what to expect in […]
Today marks 21 years since my father passed away. Every day before and every day since, his strength and his love have been a constant in my life. And my gratitude is without limits, for the certainty of the things I knew and know… for the love that will never end… for the gift of […]
I’ve been surrounded, this past week, by the energy, excitement and anxiety that inevitably accompany the start of a new school year. It’s probably not surprising, then, that when I decided to post a throwback Thursday photo on my Facebook page, I gravitated towards school pictures, ultimately choosing my first one ever from Kindergarten. White […]
As I mentioned in my last post, the Iceberg partners were in Gros Morne, Newfoundland again this summer. It was our fifth trip to the area in five years. Truth is, we love that part of the world so much we’ve been accused of working for Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism. We don’t, of course, though […]
Navy stories are tough to get right – particularly in the modern era. The setup usually sounds appealing: an ensemble of characters working together within a ship that is a character all on its own. But when you get into the practicalities of storytelling, the complications are plenty. Those characters, for instance, are stratified by […]
The Iceberg Publishing partners are currently in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland. In addition to technically being something of a vacation –– anyone who runs their own business will tell you there really is no such thing –– this year we’re spending part of our time here shooting video related to both historical and upcoming […]
You learn a lot when you moderate writing panels. While I was appearing as a guest at the Toronto Trek convention around ten years ago, I chaired an author panel about writing female characters. It was there that I picked up a piece of advice from one of my colleagues, which I remember to this […]
I’ve been thinking about home a lot lately –– home as the city where I lived for 15 years until last October… home as the place I currently reside, still unfamiliar in so many ways… but mostly home as the rugged island in the North Atlantic known as Newfoundland. There’s something about ‘the Rock’, as […]
My mother died nine years ago today. Nine. A cancer diagnosis on May 5th. Surgery on May 16th to remove a mass from her abdomen. Intubated on May 21st because lungs weakened from tuberculosis (TB) were filling with fluid. Coming off the ventilator on May 23rd and rallying for my brother Steve’s birthday. Deteriorating throughout […]
Three writers get together to celebrate the impending marriage of one of them. This story isn’t quite a cliche, but it’s highly predictable: a lot of drinking, probably some debauchery, and an awful lot of existential talk about the future, regrets, and failed hopes. Writers are endlessly moody, and there’s no way they could pass […]
They haven’t fixed the bullet holes. I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I visited Centre Block yesterday. Indeed, I hadn’t even planned on being in the building. But I arrived at my hotel in Ottawa earlier than expected, so instead of joining a friend for a working dinner in a pub (where, admittedly, […]
You know trouble is coming when Wes Prewer and I start talking about warship designs. Admittedly, things went quiet on the Black Sun front some time ago –– another false start has come and gone, but in its wake there have been some very interesting developments… developments that I suspect will lead us where we […]
His Majesty’s New World only came together as a series when I realized it could include Newfoundlanders. It’s been a few years since I explained this, but it bears repeating: as an MA student, I’d done all sorts of research that helped inform the alternate history of the series. However, the intricacies of a world […]
Way back in 1980, when I was a 19-year-old Mathematics major at Memorial University of Newfoundland, I entered the Flare magazine $1000 Question essay contest. The question: Looking Good: Will it still matter in the liberated 80s? Apparently what I wrote resonated with the editors, because much to my surprise and delight, I won the […]
The world as I see it is made up of two different kinds of people: those who hear the words ‘Martini Henry’ and think they refer to a guy called Henry who likes Martinis… and everyone else, who knows (obviously) that those words refer to one of the most iconic rifles in the history of […]
I am currently back in Waterloo. The reason for my visit isn’t a happy one –– Arthur Stephen, the person who brought me to this city and Wilfrid Laurier University in 1999 –– died suddenly last week. Boss, mentor and ultimately a fast friend, he is gone from us too suddenly and too soon, and […]
I am no musician. The only instrument I ever learned to play was the recorder (in elementary school) and that was terrible. I can’t sing worth a damn — as Jacqui once reported, I failed even to belt out “Old Man River” with Boba Fett when we were both guests at a convention. Music is […]
One of my favorite science fiction series is set over the five-year period from 2231 to 2235, and written in a fourth-wall-shattering first person perspective by retired Admiral the Lord Ken Barron, some 30 years after the events. This affinity will come as no surprise to some readers who are also Defense Command fans, but […]